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Egbon Finsi, maybe the reason why the naija market isn't doing well for them is becos naijas in naija don't patronise our film industry enough. Our people here in diaspora tend to do so.

A lot of naijas based in naija i've spoken to have told me that they don't like naija films, infact they loathe them. I've even spoken to a naija actor who told me he doesn't watch nor like naija film and i was quite taken in by the statement.

How about these marketers/professionals try and do research in diaspora and see how the naija film industry is doing out here.

Well, they frustrated all legitimate attempts to get this monster under control years ago. They concluded those trying to get things streamlined here were trying to rip them off, the way they have thrived for years obviously.

Off topic: I am aware meetings are going on now in NY/NJ to get matters under control here in the US. And heavy legal moves are in the works to take down that infamous pirate site. Even the FBI is in on it. The owner in MD reportedly claimed with a document that he paid NFVCB to acquire the rights to stream those movies. Folks got in touch with Mba in Nigeria who affirmed that the document being touted is a forgery, and the actual original document only has teeth in Nigeria, not in the USA. The marketers in Naija are all excited and ready to fix the piracy issues here now, but it is a little too late.

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Sola took the words right out of my keyboard. Movie making is BUSINESS. Let them use whatever strategy pleases them.

what is the segregation about anyway? what is this whole Ghana Nigeria deal? as far as I am concerned, "nollywood also includes Ghana. After all, Ghanaians patronized Nigerian movies way more than their own. even Ghana web list Nigerian movies. so what is this?

do other industries not import actors from other industries? it's not upstaging. it's called working together.

I wonder who started this segregation drama. 5 (not very good) Ghanaian youngsters cannot upstage some of the solid acts in Nigeria (if I am to segregate too).

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Well, they frustrated all legitimate attempts to get this monster under control years ago. They concluded those trying to get things streamlined here were trying to rip them off, the way they have thrived for years obviously.

Off topic: I am aware meetings are going on now in NY/NJ to get matters under control here in the US. And heavy legal moves are in the works to take down that infamous pirate site. Even the FBI is in on it. The owner in MD reportedly claimed with a document that he paid NFVCB to acquire the rights to stream those movies. Folks got in touch with Mba in Nigeria who affirmed that the document being touted is a forgery, and the actual original document only has teeth in Nigeria, not in the USA. The marketers in Naija are all excited and ready to fix the piracy issues here now, but it is a little too late.

I think the piracy issue will always be hard to fix in the diaspora markets without theatrical distribution. Everybody is affected by these sites. Home video sales are being eaten up in most countries of the world by torrent sites, and other file sharing sites. Everyone knows of youtube and veoh and other major sites but new sites keep popping up. If you shut down that notorious site, another one will pop up. When what should be a secondary market is your primary market, it will always be hard to control piracy here. Why don't they invest in what the Indians do? Indian movies target the Non-Resident Indians or NRIs in England and the United States by releasing their movies theatrically for them. It's a bigger investment but the revenue is bigger. The Africans in Diaspora are larger in population than the Indians. More energy should be spent in creating a theatrical market. And I'm not talking about those one screening a day for one weekend in one theater that passes for a theatrical release.

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Why don't they invest in what the Indians do? Indian movies target the Non-Resident Indians or NRIs in England and the United States by releasing their movies theatrically for them. It's a bigger investment but the revenue is bigger. The Africans in Diaspora are larger in population than the Indians. More energy should be spent in creating a theatrical market. And I'm not talking about those one screening a day for one weekend in one theater that passes for a theatrical release.

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I think the piracy issue will always be hard to fix in the diaspora markets without theatrical distribution. Everybody is affected by these sites. Home video sales are being eaten up in most countries of the world by torrent sites, and other file sharing sites. Everyone knows of youtube and veoh and other major sites but new sites keep popping up. If you shut down that notorious site, another one will pop up. When what should be a secondary market is your primary market, it will always be hard to control piracy here. Why don't they invest in what the Indians do? Indian movies target the Non-Resident Indians or NRIs in England and the United States by releasing their movies theatrically for them. It's a bigger investment but the revenue is bigger. The Africans in Diaspora are larger in population than the Indians. More energy should be spent in creating a theatrical market. And I'm not talking about those one screening a day for one weekend in one theater that passes for a theatrical release.

some people will come to disagree with you cos hey say armed robbers do not allow theatrical releases back home. lame excuse cos people still go for friday night service, choir practice and all nights back home. kpakpa and low quality productions does not give them the courage to release in theaters.

making good movies and finding release outside is an awesome idea.

is that not what the Leila Djansi interview said that their goal was to make movies in Africa but not make Africa their domestic market? brilliant move!! and brilliant point Ras.

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This will always be an issue. Home movies have to become MOVIES to attract folks to the theatre in any country. We however shouldn't forget the industry came into existence back home as a way to sidetrack issues like inability to shoot on film, absence of cinema houses, the danger of night life (still a major risk if you don't own a car), etc.

I understand the low quality aspect but despite the low quality right now, aren't Africans still watching the movies. What difference does it make if it is in your home or in the cinema? A theatrical release helps curb revenue lost by piracy. You have a one, two or three month window before its release on video. Theater owners in America don't really care about the quality as long as the Africans don't care. If you can bring in enough bodies that will buy popcorn and soda, the owner is fine. I say these because I spoke a theater owner who has a bunch of independent theaters that screen Indian movies and American indie movies. The guy said he would screen Nigerian movies as long as the audience shows. It doesn't have to be on film. They can project it digitally.

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I understand the low quality aspect but despite the low quality right now, aren't Africans still watching the movies. What difference does it make if it is in your home or in the cinema? A theatrical release helps curb revenue lost by piracy. You have a one, two or three month window before its release on video. Theater owners in America don't really care about the quality as long as the Africans don't care.

well, it's not so much an issue of the quality as it is the fact that they're not eager to sacrifice one screen of Return to Madagascar to show some shot-on-video movie from Nigeria.

(i'm assuming that you're talking about the popular major theatrical exhibitors, which have deals with the studios... not the smaller arthouses. and you're even stretching your luck with THEM.)

also, the quality matters because while the audience feels okay spending maybe $5 on a cheap VCD, they might not be as willing to pay $11 upwards to watch the same poorly made movie in a theater.

plus, as one who has watched Nigerian movies in the theater, i can attest that it is a PAINFUL experience. the action onscreen is blurred and abstracted... and the sound fluctuations? ha! i kid you not... i watched Tunde Kelani's Abeni in the theater and i had a headache for 3 fulls days... my hearing in my left ear didn't return for almost a week!

other than that, i agree with you... the only solution to Nollywood's piracy problem is some degree of theatrical distribution. i've been saying this for a long time; the fact that the originating format is one that can be pirated in seconds by anybody who owns a laptop is Nollywood's fatal flaw.

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Kini big deal???? Hysteria for nothing. Abeg make I hear word.
Terming this as an invasion is simply POVERTY/SCARCITY MENTALITY!!! Think Abundance people. There's always more than enough to go round. So the ghanians are actually making the Nollywood pie bigger and not depleting it. Invasion ko, Iraq ni!!!

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well, it's not so much an issue of the quality as it is the fact that they're not eager to sacrifice one screen of Return to Madagascar to show some shot-on-video movie from Nigeria.

(i'm assuming that you're talking about the popular major theatrical exhibitors, which have deals with the studios... not the smaller arthouses. and you're even stretching your luck with THEM.)

also, the quality matters because while the audience feels okay spending maybe $5 on a cheap VCD, they might not be as willing to pay $11 upwards to watch the same poorly made movie in a theater.

plus, as one who has watched Nigerian movies in the theater, i can attest that it is a PAINFUL experience. the action onscreen is blurred and abstracted... and the sound fluctuations? ha! i kid you not... i watched Tunde Kelani's Abeni in the theater and i had a headache for 3 fulls days... my hearing in my left ear didn't return for almost a week!

other than that, i agree with you... the only solution to Nollywood's piracy problem is some degree of theatrical distribution. i've been saying this for a long time; the fact that the originating format is one that can be pirated in seconds by anybody who owns a laptop is Nollywood's fatal flaw.

Actually, I was talking about independent thaeters. The Indians don't show their movies in the AMC, Regal and Cinemark theaters in the States either. There are quite a few independent theaters that cater to non studio product. I have never seen a Nollywood movie on the big screen apart from Stephanie's Through the Glass - At the premiere, she kept calling it a Nollywood movie - but you are probably right, the resolution will be horrible. for most. But White Waters could be projected on a big screen and a few others. I don't think it will be for every movie but the better shot ones and there are a few them could try it. A 60 - 90 screen release could work and see what happens. I am a big fan of this idea because it has to wake them up. Potential higher revenues has to force them to raise the quality because it seems nothing else will.
Talking about quality, I am not in Nigeria so I am not knowledgeable about this. Maybe someone can help me out? When Osuofia in London was shot, in the scenes set in London, a better resolution camera was used. In the scenes shot in Nigeria, the same DV camera we see was used. Apparently, cost is not an issue because they could afford to rent the HD camera for the scenes in London. So, I have to assume there are no HD cameras to rent in Nigeria.
I also met a German producer. He produced a German movie called Winterreise. It was nominated for the German Oscars. There was a screening recently in Los Angeles. A large part of the movie involved 419 on the lead actor involving an oil contract. Except the 419 was done from Kenya and the lead actor goes to Kenya to find his money. I don't mind if Germans think Kenya is the 419 capital of the world but I had to ask the producer why he substituted Kenya for Nigeria. Apparently, it was originally Nigeria but he was told that Nigerians had no trained crew or necessary equipment. Also it was impossible to get in touch with the Nigerian Film Administration regarding logistics purposes. To skip the stress, they just changed location to Kenya where there is a trained film crew and modern equipment and film ministry that picks up the phone. I have to wonder how long the Nigerian Film Industry can continue to dominate the African market. The technical quality is poor. The necessary investment is not being made. How long before another country rises to challenge their domination?

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I have never seen a Nollywood movie on the big screen apart from Stephanie's Through the Glass - At the premiere, she kept calling it a Nollywood movie - but you are probably right, the resolution will be horrible. for most. But White Waters could be projected on a big screen and a few others.

i don't care what Stephanie says... Through the Glass isn't a Nollywood movie. call it a Nigerian movie if you like (though i would probably even argue with that) but it sure as hell ain't Nollywood.

i don't know about White Waters being projected on the big screen, though... i just watched that movie this afternoon and i was surprised and disappointed to find that it had all the usual sound problems and even though the colors were pleasingly saturated, the cinematography was actually slightly worse than the average Nollyflick. (out of focus... full of artifacts, etc. and that's on my little-ass TV set.)

you say you're in LA, raskimono? i'm in Boston and i sure as hell don't see any independent theaters here showing Bollywood movies... unless i'm just out of the loop.

i think getting even 60-90 (simultaneous) indie screens for Nollywood is a bit of a stretch, though... i'd say a more suitable strategy would be to "bicycle" the movie across the country, showing it in venues like schools or churches and such, much like Haile Gerima did with Sankofa and a couple of this other movies in the 1980s.

i do certainly agree that the potential for higher revenues would push up the quality... it's not like people in Nollywood WANT to make crappy movies; it's just that there's not much incentive to do better.

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i thought it was white people alone was racist, i now relized that africans are the most racist people among each other, are you guys not african why can't you work togeather.i love to see when both nigerians and ghanians does movies togeather we in the caribbean admire your movies, stop the fighting we are all black people united we stand divided we fall let us love each other.

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i don't know about White Waters being projected on the big screen, though... i just watched that movie this afternoon and i was surprised and disappointed to find that it had all the usual sound problems and even though the colors were pleasingly saturated, the cinematography was actually slightly worse than the average Nollyflick. (out of focus... full of artifacts, etc. and that's on my little-ass TV set.)

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yeah... somehow i suspect that it was a deliberate attempt to tone down the usually hard edges of video and achieve something akin to the softer look of film, but i don't think it worked... combining that with the oversaturated colors just made everything look like a giant Technicolor smudge.

it constituted narrative problems too... because moving figures often looked like they were in some kind of slow motion, drawing the eye to them when they were really not significant for any reason.

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i don't care what Stephanie says... Through the Glass isn't a Nollywood movie. call it a Nigerian movie if you like (though i would probably even argue with that) but it sure as hell ain't Nollywood.

i don't know about White Waters being projected on the big screen, though... i just watched that movie this afternoon and i was surprised and disappointed to find that it had all the usual sound problems and even though the colors were pleasingly saturated, the cinematography was actually slightly worse than the average Nollyflick. (out of focus... full of artifacts, etc. and that's on my little-ass TV set.)

you say you're in LA, raskimono? i'm in Boston and i sure as hell don't see any independent theaters here showing Bollywood movies... unless i'm just out of the loop.

i think getting even 60-90 (simultaneous) indie screens for Nollywood is a bit of a stretch, though... i'd say a more suitable strategy would be to "bicycle" the movie across the country, showing it in venues like schools or churches and such, much like Haile Gerima did with Sankofa and a couple of this other movies in the 1980s.

i do certainly agree that the potential for higher revenues would push up the quality... it's not like people in Nollywood WANT to make crappy movies; it's just that there's not much incentive to do better.

The theaters for Bollywood movies are usually outside the city. There is an Indian movie called Aegan playing right now in Cambridge MA. In Los Angeles, again, it's outside the city in a largely Indian community called Artesia and in Fremont which is closer to San Francisco. It's an idea. If the Indians can do it, I don't see why the Nigerians can't. A hit Indian movie does $1m in US and a similar number in the UK. And the only people who watch it are the Indians. And they do it without buying TV ads the way the Hollywood studios do. It's all online marketing and a nationally syndicated one hour tv show dedicated to Indian movies.

As for Through the Glass, I don't feel comfortable reviewing the movie because Ladybrille and Encomium were there and they have yet to review the movie or mention the screening. There is probably a whole marketing campaign involved. I don't know who reads the site. I'll reserve my comments till when it's closer to its release in Nigeria.

But I will say, it's a romantic comedy Hollywood style. It's a Dane Cook without the R rating or Ryan Reynolds movie. It's a romantic comedy from the guy's perspective. It doesn't reinvent the wheel but as those kind of movies go, it is funny.

Stephanie has what I would call a supporting role. It's the lead female role but the movie is built around the American actor Gareth Mckechhnie. That surprised me. Since she wrote and directed it, I expected to see her in every scene.

As for the audience, they ate it up. They laughed at the right places but then again, they might not be as demanding as me. I came out with the impression that Stephanie can direct. She has a good sense of pacing. She's better than most Nollywood directors.

I also couldn't help thinking she could send out her script with the movie as a reference point to how the script will play on screen and sell the script to a Hollywood Production company. Scripts not as well written as hers have sold. I know people who would consider it. I think she should look into it.

Come to think of it, this is a perfect movie to test the theatrical market for the NIDs, Nigerians in Diaspora. It looks okay on screen. It might need a little color correction to make it look better, but it can definitely play on the big screen.

And yes, when it arrives in Nigeria, you can be sure the press will play it up as a revolution of Nollywood cinema because it has oyibo actors and was shot on HD. That said, I thought White Waters was a better movie, though it doesn't look as good.

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The theaters for Bollywood movies are usually outside the city. There is an Indian movie called Aegan playing right now in Cambridge MA. In Los Angeles, again, it's outside the city in a largely Indian community called Artesia and in Fremont which is closer to San Francisco. It's an idea. If the Indians can do it, I don't see why the Nigerians can't. A hit Indian movie does $1m in US and a similar number in the UK. And the only people who watch it are the Indians. And they do it without buying TV ads the way the Hollywood studios do. It's all online marketing and a nationally syndicated one hour tv show dedicated to Indian movies.

Stephanie has what I would call a supporting role. It's the lead female role but the movie is built around the American actor Gareth Mckechhnie. That surprised me. Since she wrote and directed it, I expected to see her in every scene.

if Stephanie's role in the movie is that small--and i'm assuming that she is also the only Nigerian character in the movie--what exact makes this a Nigerian, let alone a Nollywood movie?

...well, let's not get back into that!

raskimono said:

Come to think of it, this is a perfect movie to test the theatrical market for the NIDs, Nigerians in Diaspora. It looks okay on screen. It might need a little color correction to make it look better, but it can definitely play on the big screen.

if the movie is essentially a Dane Cook flick with Stephanie in a supporting role, what gives it any special appeal to Nigerians in the Diaspora? there's already plenty of movies like this that they can watch, aren't there? i don't think they're going to flock to support it just because it happens to be directed by a Nigerian woman...

raskimono said:

And yes, when it arrives in Nigeria, you can be sure the press will play it up as a revolution of Nollywood cinema because it has oyibo actors and was shot on HD. That said, I thought White Waters was a better movie, though it doesn't look as good.